LAFAYETTE — Lafayette's Caterpillar Large Engine Center is celebrating 35 years in the community this year.
Those years have been spent bringing jobs to the area and giving back to the community through volunteer work and donations, Joe Markun, general manager for large engine operations, said.
To celebrate this anniversary, however, Caterpillar is looking a little farther afield, all the way to Haiti, in fact.
Caterpillar will gift a 3500 generator, powered by the 3500 engines built here in Lafayette, to St. Luke’s Foundation for Haiti.
St. Luke's, based in Port-au-Prince and Dumfries, Virginia, provides healthcare, schooling and humanitarian aid in shantytowns throughout Haiti.
Frank Krafft, treasurer for the non-profit, said donations like the generator from Caterpillar are essential to the organization's humanitarian efforts.